Friday, September 23, 2011

Rangers are the 2011 AL West Champions!

And it's all because I went to the game tonight... 

Luck, nay, destiny had your pal Napkin in Dallas this weekend on business.  When the opportunity to see the Rangers and Mariners play Friday night, I was all over it like a guy... who likes baseball... is on tickets for a baseball game..
I could sense some magic in the air as I approached this gorgeous baseball cathedral..

I love the Ballpark in Arlington.  It's a really pretty place to look at, and it is humongous.  Well, I guess humongous is a relative term.  to wit-

Right across the way from the Rangers Ballpark is Jerry World.  This thing has to be seen to be believed.  A little picture from my cell phone doesn't come close to doing it justice.  I hear parking is $75 here.  Parking for the Rangers game was $5.  But I digress.

Since I was on the company's dime, we shelled out dough for good seats and sat up a little ways behind home plate, in a covered section.  It was a great view of the field.  Unfortunately, my tale will not have the benefit of compelling photos, because the camera on my phone stinks.  But here are a few pics:



 We didn't get to see the Rangers take BP, but saw the Mariners "sluggers" lace some singles around the outfield.
 It was pretty cool seeing Ichiro up close.  He's a charismatic dude, and still had lots of fans screaming for his attention.
It wouldn't be a post from me without a picture of a hot dog would it?

The game went along pretty quickly.  I kid you not, before the game I told my co-worker that Adrian Beltre would go deep.  Bottom of the second, he proved me right.
Here's Beltre crossing the plate after his home run.  This would have been so much more fun to write if the picture won't so crappy.

Soon after, Josh Hamilton followed with a blast of his own.  But the best part of the night was former Razorback, Craig Gentry, hitting an inside the park home run, his first home run of his career.  Gentry is a fast mother.  He almost caught Nelson Cruz who was on base and running home ahead of him.

After the bullpen followed up a pretty solid outing by Matt Harrison with 3 shutout innings, we headed back to our hotel, the haunted Adolphus, and saw the A's finish off the Angels, at least as far as the AL West is concerned.

Bring on the playoffs!!! 

2 comments:

Anthony Hughes said...

I wish the Rangers luck! Here's to bringing the state of Texas our first World Series championship!

Play at the Plate said...

Alright Rangers!! That's cool you got to be there. I couldn't believe that Gentry homer. He actually slowed down rounding first and still made it all the way home without a slide!